>> If someone showed that the frequency of interdigital webbing>> was not significantly higher in humans than it is in chimpanzees, AAH>> would be falsified. I can't think of any other truly unambiguous,>> ubiquitous characteristic common to all semi-aquatic animals

>Dewi Morgan has just emailed me and says that a study has been done that >shows a higher frequency of interdigital webbing in chimpanzees than in >humans. Does anyone have a reference (I've looked on bids but I can't >find anything) for this? Proof of a higher frequency of webbed feet in >chimps would definitely, in my opinion, falsify the AAH. I'd also be >interested to see if this has been done on bonobos as well.

All humans show interdigital webbing to a certain degree,in the sense
that we all have skin stretching out between the fingers.
In my own case approximately halfway the shaft of the proximal phalanx
of the hand.It's simply a consequence of embryologic development of
the digits.(In extreme cases when the mesenchyme between the digits
fails to disappear one gets a syndactyl foot or hand with the toes or
fingers grown together)This is also the case in other hominoids.
So,I would like to know,in what sense do chimpanzees show a higher
degree of interdigital webbing?